A quick sketch that was originally intended for Illustration Friday. But I decided it was too off topic (”save”) and will do another later. Not happy with the rendition, but love the idea of jellyfish with spine. Idea occurred after seeing a post somewhere on jellyfish made out of porcelain, and thinking how much the tentacles looked like a backbone.

It occurred to me - due to the reading I am indulging in at the moment on propaganda, political cartoons and pop culture - that I seem to draw/paint two types of images. One is just to tell a story (Show Time, Silly Season, While They Were Sleeping), the other is both a story and a “political” message (Aporia, My Beloved and Dogma¹). By political, I mean a reflection on society as a system. But I usually don’t set out to do this (I guess My Beloved and Dogma are exception to that statement). Aporia was meant to be a story piece, but it consists of a woman covered in maggots and wearing a tattered dress standing on the bones of farm animals in front of a massive train, and holding a smaller version of that train. Yep, no political message there. None what so ever. In absolutely no way does it represent neoliberal economic policy, which is what I had been reading up on while painting it.

P.S. Although I have given dates for these images, it is only a best guess on my part. They were all painted between 2005 and 2007 though. I think. That also applies to what software I have listed (Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter and Corel Photo Paint, and Ambient Art Rage).

1. if I had ever finished Dogma [↩]